New ports bill a positive move

The Mar­itime Union says a new mem­bers bill that will increase the trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty of pub­licly owned New Zealand ports is a pos­i­tive move and has wide sup­port.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says the Union con­grat­u­lates Labour MP Darien Fen­ton whose Local Gov­ern­ment (Coun­cil-Con­trolled Organ­i­sa­tions) Amend­ment Bill has been drawn from the bal­lot.

He says the bill address­es the press­ing need to change the law to bring pub­licly owned ports into line with oth­er pub­lic assets, which are cov­ered by the Offi­cial Infor­ma­tion Act.

The new bill would also mean that ports would be required to act as a good employ­er, and exhib­it social and envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­i­ty in their com­mu­ni­ties.

The Mar­itime Union last week wrote to the Auck­land Coun­cil request­ing some account­abil­i­ty for the actions of Ports of Auck­land Lim­it­ed man­age­ment and the costs incurred to the peo­ple of Auck­land.